Ep. 662 – Mindrolling Revisited: Reality and Karma with Robert Thurman

Turning back time to 2018, we revisit a conversation between Dr. Thurman and Raghu Markus about facing reality, transforming our reactivity, and understanding karma.

You can help continue Dr. Thurman’s life’s work to preserve Tibetan culture. Visit Tibet House to learn more.

In this episode, Robert Thurman and Raghu explore: 

• Buddhism as a realistic approach to understanding reality
• The projections and stories we tell ourselves every day
• Working with fear and judgment in meditation
• Entering the gaps of mental reactivity
• Karma: an intentional action with evolutionary consequences
• The relationship between self-awareness and the direction of our karma
• Buddhist perspectives on rebirth and reincarnation
• The distinction between unconscious rebirth and consciously choosing to return
• Neem Karoli Baba and the experience of living completely in reality
• The intimate connection between absolute reality and unconditional love

About Dr. Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman (1941-2026) was an American Buddhist author and academic who wrote, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University before retiring in June 2019. He held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. After education at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, he studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for almost thirty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He wrote both scholarly and popular books and lectured widely all over the world. As President of the American Institute for Buddhist Studies, he convened the First Inner Science Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984. He was also a founding trustee of Tibet House New York. Check out his most recent book Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life. Robert Thurman made many appearances on our network, and he is greatly missed. 

“Being realistic is the best approach because the better you understand reality, the happier you will be. The less you understand it, the more unnecessary trouble you will put yourself through. That’s why when people ask what Buddhism is, I tell them that Buddhism is realism.” –Robert Thurman

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